The present invention, unlike prior art muscle stretching and strengthening exercises, teaches a person pelvic muscle control so that he will learn to automatically move his pelvis into proper posture while walking.
Lower back pain is a persistent and widespread phenomenon. A number of physical and psychological factors, including stress, tension and inadequate abdominal muscle strength, contribute to the development of lower back pain. The failure to walk with proper pelvic posture, however, is the most common causal factor which, if corrected, will eliminate lower back pain. Using the present invention, the failure to walk with proper pelvic posture is readily cured through short term physical therapy.
In layman's terms, the failure to walk with proper pelvic posture is known as having a "sway back" or a hyperextended back. In physiological terms, the problem is one of maintaining an excessive lumbosacral angle while walking, sometimes called lumbar lordosis.
For the purposes of this description, the terms "pelvic posture", "pelvic tilt", "pelvic placement" and "pelvic position" are used synonymously to mean the angle of the pelvis with respect to the vertebral column, which is closely related to the lumbosacral angle, as defined below.
The most commonly prescribed cures for lower back pain are sets of standard back exercises, which are generally aimed at strengthening the abdominal muscles and stretching the back muscles and ligaments.
The present invention, unlike the prior art, emphasizes the teaching of muscle control rather than the building of muscle strength. Muscle control is a dynamic activity. A person cannot maintain a static pelvic posture or tilt while performing a normal range of body movements. The inventor has found that a person does not need much muscle strength to maintain proper pelvic posture; what he needs is good muscle control and good pelvic posture habits. Therefore the present invention teaches a person to automatically move his or her pelvis back into proper posture as the person is walking.
A feature of the present invention is that it corrects a defect in a normal activity, walking, instead of providing a a supplemental activity to help compensate for injury causing activities. Patients frequently stop using supplemental exercise programs once their back stops hurting--thus allowing new injuries to occur. Correction of one's pelvic posture is an injury prevention measure which, as part of a normal daily activity, is easily integrated into one's normal activity pattern and therefore has a greater chance of permanently curing lower back pain than supplemental exercise programs.
Another feature of the present invention is that it provides alternating learning and practicing periods during which, while a person walks on a treadmill, a preselected pelvic tilt or posture is imposed and then the person walks unrestrained--allowing the person to try walking while trying to maintain proper or improved pelvic posture.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for training a person to walk with proper pelvic posture. Thus the primary object of the apparatus is to teach a skill, rather than to promote muscle strength.
Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for imposing a preselected pelvic posture while a person is walking and then releasing the person's pelvis while the person continues to walk in accordance with a preselected schedule.